Truth and Lies
by DiscordianSamba
Summary: AU: In the kingdom of Amity Park, there are no beings more feared than the ghosts. But as Princess Samantha is about to learn, not everything is as she thinks it is... HIATUS
1. The Accident

AN: Yes, I know, I shouldn't have started a new story. I shouldn't be putting off these four school projects I have either, but apparently, I like doing what I shouldn't. You all can blame Within Temptation's rather inspiring music for this new fiction. And don't worry, I am still working on all of my old ones, although I think there might be awhile before I update any of them. Cause, you know, I do have to work on those projects _sometime._

Danny Phantom doesn't belong to me, however, this story does! Steal it and I will remove your spine and use it as a whip to punish other thieves!

Truth and Lies

Chapter One: The Accident

Amity Park was one of the most desired places to live in, and not only because it was the Royal City, in which the Royal Manson family lived in. In recent years, the good people of Earth had found themselves ravaged by vicious ghost attacks, and Amity Park was one of the few places in which they had a fully operational ghost shield. It was also the home to the Fentons, the world's most prominent ghost experts. If anyone could take care of renegade ghosts, it was them.

Most of the media attention on the Fentons focused on Maddie and Jack, the brilliant ghost-hunting couple. Though they had their critics, for some felt that it was absolutely absurd to abandon all magic in favor of science, they were widely loved by all. They had two children. The oldest was a girl named Jasmine, though people simply called her Jazz. Their youngest was a boy, named Daniel, though most referred to him as Danny.

The Mansons had reigned most of Earth for as long as the people could remember. Their line stretched back for generations, and their latest heir was a young girl named Samantha Manson, though most called her Sam. Sam and Danny had always been close friends, which lead to speculation among many in the kingdom about what would happen with the two when they grew up. Danny and Sam, however, blew off any possible rumors of the two ever having a relationship outside of friendship.

* * *

"So, this is it, huh?" Sixteen-year old Danny Fenton turned away from the glowing portal in front of him, looking at his parents. They both nodded, proudly, and Danny grinned, turning back around, his light blue eyes focusing on the portal.

This was his parent's pride and joy-The Fenton Ghost Portal. It was designed to access the Ghost Zone, so that they could return all the invading ghosts back to where they had come from. After months of testing, false starts, and minor setbacks, they had finally been able to complete it.

Officially, no one was supposed to see it before the project completion announcement date on Saturday, but Danny's parents had decided to bring in both of their children to see it before-hand. Jazz had politely declined, as she wasn't very interested in her parent's ghost research. Danny had come out of sheer curiosity.

Maddie sighed happily, leaning against her husband's shoulder, smiling. After many long months, their work had finally paid off. But there was something nagging at her, saying that something was wrong. She simply played it off to paranoia because of the mass scale of the Ghost Portal project. She had gone over the calculations about three times before she and Jack had turned it on. Everything was in order.

"Hm?" Danny frowned, blinking. "Mom, is it supposed to be doing that?" He had noticed that the swirling of ecto-energy in the portal, which his mother had said was natural, had suddenly gotten a lot faster. He turned to his mother, looking a bit worried.

Maddie frowned, looking at the portal. The energy spins had indeed gotten a lot faster, and it was beginning to make her worry that a ghost was trying to force itself through. Maddie had made sure that the portal was one-sided, but there were some rather determined ghosts out there. She left her husband's side to check up on the monitor screen information on the portal.

Her eyes shot up wide, and her head whipped around to her husband. "Jack, it's malfunctioning! We need to preform an emergency shut down!" Maddie then remembered that Danny was standing almost directly in front of the portal. "Danny! Get out of there!"

"Huh?" Danny turned around, looking at his mother, just as the energy spins hit maximum speed. The already glowing portal glowed even brighter, just moments before a large blast of ecto-radiation was let loose from it, Danny directly in it's range. It wasn't until after this that Jack managed to preform the emergency shut down.

_"DANNY!"_

Danny barely saw it coming. He had absolutely no time to react, and before he knew it, he was engulfed by the blast of ecto-radiation. He let out a loud, piercing scream, born out of both fear and pain. He suddenly felt everything just stop, and he slumped onto the ground, as the last bits of the radiation blast vanished.

Grateful for the protection that their Hazmat suits provided from the remnants of the ecto-radiation, Maddie and Jack rushed over to their son. He was lying, groaning on the ground, curled up into a tight ball, as if he had a bad stomach cramp. Maddie kneeled down by him, gently picking up his head, noticing with a bit of shock that the radiation had caused his black hair to turn snow white.

"Danny?" She whispered quietly, exchanging a look with their husband. Both of them prayed that a change in hair color was the only side effect.

"Mom..." Danny choked out weakly, his eyes slowly flickering open, which got a loud gasp from his parents. Instead of light blue, his eyes were now a bright, glowing green. Maddie desperately searched over her son's body, having already noticed the rapid drop in body temperature, as well as the fact that his ears had been tipped off into points-a somewhat common ghost trait.

"Danny... Danny, you're okay, right?" Maddie asked, almost pleading. It couldn't happen. There was no way that the accident could have killed her son, and made him one of _them._ It couldn't happen, not to Danny. He was okay, he _had _to be.

"I feel like I was hit by an elephant flying a jumbo jet..." Danny moaned, trying to pull himself up from his mother's grasp, holding a hand on his head. "When did it... get so cold in here?" Danny asked, looking between his parents, wondering why the two of them looked so freaked out. "Mom? Dad? What's wrong?"

"Danny... you..." Jack begin, exchanging a look with his wife.

"I what?" Danny asked, his voice both nervous and confused. If his parents, people who spent their lives hunting ghosts were freaked out, then something _had _to be wrong. "Mom, Dad, what happened to me?" He asked them, begging.

After his question, there was a long pause, Jack and Maddie both trying to come up with possible explanations-_any _possible explanation except for the one that was most prominent in their minds. "I... don't know, Danny." Maddie said finally. What could she tell him?

"You don't know?" Danny asked, his voice was wavering in fear now. "Something did happen to me then?" He asked, trying to fight back a rising panic. He looked at his hands, noticing that his skin was slightly paler, and furthermore that he had a strange glow surrounding him. His eyes shot wide with full-blown panic.

Maddie and Jack watched the explanation they didn't want to face dawn on their son. Both of them exchanged a look, wondering when it was that they would loose him. When he would become one of them, one of the ghosts. When would he change from the sweet boy the knew so well, into the malevolent spirit? They prayed that the process took time, maybe then they could try and find a way to keep their son's sanity.

"I'm... a... a..." Danny forced himself to choke out, but he still couldn't make himself say the last word. "No... No, no. That can't be true! This is just a mistake right! Or a nightmare. One crazy, crazy nightmare..." Danny said, pinching himself to see if he felt the pain. He winced as he did it, realizing that this was no nightmare. This was reality.

"Danny, calm down..." Maddie said, trying to keep her voice calm and soothing. She knew it was only a matter of time before the Mansons sent someone down to investigate the commotion. "We don't know exactly how the whole process works. You could have months before... before..." She bit her lip, unable to finish her sentence.

"...before I attack someone." Danny finished for her, pulling his knees up to his chest, and resting his head in them. "I can't believe this..."

"There... might be a way to keep it from happening, and we swear to you Danny, your father and I will do everything in our power to find it." Maddie said, resolutely.

As expected, moments after Maddie spoke, two guards came down the stairs, followed by none other than the Mansons themselves.

"What on earth is going on down here?" Mrs. Manson asked, brushing back a bit of her red hair. "We heard a terrible noise and-oh my!" She exclaimed, catching sight of the white-haired Danny, her eyes widening in surprise. "What on earth is this?"

Jack and Maddie exchanged a look. Surely the Mansons would understand the situation, and allow them to temporarily suspend the work on the portal in order to help their son. He was, after all, a close friend of their daughter.

"There... was an accident. The portal malfunctioned and..." Maddie said, glancing back at her son, who wasn't meeting eyes with anyone, whether from shame, depression, or both, she wasn't quite sure. She turned back to the Mansons. "And my son... got caught in the middle of a blast of ecto-radiation. It appears to have had some rather... adverse effects on him."

"Oh dear, that is bad." Mrs. Manson said, sounding sympathetic. "What kind of effects? Besides the obvious, of course." She said, looking over the altered form of Danny.

"You two don't mean to say that it changed him into a ghost?" Mr. Manson asked, after giving Danny a visual assessment of his own.

"...We believe so." Maddie said sadly. She caught Mr. Manson opening his mouth to speak again and regardless of the proper etiquette, she cut him off. "But please here me out! As is stands, Danny has yet to gain the natural malevolence that is present in all ghosts. And I believe that there still might be a chance to save him..."

Mr. Manson rubbed his chin, considering. "And what would you two do if he did become malevolent during your research?" He asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Well, we'd put him in the Fenton Thermos until we finished." Jack said. Danny looked at his father, a bit startled. "Don't give me that look, Danny, it's better than destroying you, or sending you away to some place where we might never be able to get to you again."

"And what would happen to the Ghost Portal research while this is all going on?" Mrs. Manson asked. "Surely you cannot do both at the same time."

"Yes, and I would like to know more about this malfunction. Will we have to set back the revelation date?" Mr. Manson asked. "We can't have one of your inventions turning people into ghosts every time it malfunctions."

Maddie looked back at Danny once more, checking that he was still there and allright, before she turned back to the King and Queen. "We don't know much time we have to find a way to prevent Danny from losing his mind. Jack and I will have a pressed schedule as it is, without having to worry about determining what went wrong with the Ghost Portal, and how to fix it. We preformed an emergency shut down for now, so there should be no further danger on it while we work on something to help Danny..."

"No." Mr. Manson said, sounding incredibly resolute. Maddie and Jack exchanged a look, all of the sympathy that they had seen just moments before in the two had vanished. This happened often, especially when they started to talk about some sort of set-back with a new ghost invention, or whether or not they should study a ghost before the destroyed it, or before they sealed it away.

"But with all due respect..." Maddie began, but she was cut off by another resolute no, this time by the Queen. "But, Danny!" Maddie protested, forgetting for a moment their status difference. Maddie looked back at Danny, who appeared to be getting more and more depressed by the second.

And he was, too. When the Mansons had first come down, he was feeling a mixture of both fear and shame. Once they seemed to be sympathetic to what had happened to him, his mood had begun to lighten. And while he wasn't too keen on the idea of being trapped in the Fenton Thermos should the ghost malevolence rise in him before his parents finished their research, it _did _sound a lot better than just being whipped out, or sent far away, loosing all chance at ever regaining a normal state of mind.

But then the Mansons had changed their tune, and now the only thing he found he could feel was a sinking depression. Perhaps his parents should just destroy him now, while his mind at least was still human. He suddenly felt in increase in the yearning that had been constant in him ever since the ecto-radiation's effects had become known, a yearning to be human once more. He just wanted it so _badly _now. If he was still human, none of this would be happening.

His eyes snapped open, suddenly feeling his body warmth all coming back to him in a rush. He heard a collective gasp, the expressions on the faces of those around of him were mixed ones of astonishment and happiness. Danny looked down, staring at his hands, and found that he no longer had the strange ghostly glow.

"Danny..." Maddie was the first to speak. "You... you're back to normal?" She asked, half-doubting what she was seeing. Just as she was grappling with the fact that she would loose her son to the spirits, two ice blue rings of light enveloped his body, doing the impossible. They turned him back into a human. Gone were the white hair and glowing green eyes, replaced by his normal black hair and light blue eyes.

"What?" Danny asked in equal confusion. "How is that even possible?"

"Come here, let me check." Maddie shook her head. "No don't bother, I'll get up." Maddie got up from her seated position, since she had been on the ground ever since she had kneeled down by Danny, and moved over towards him. She carefully checked his pulse in both his wrists and neck and found that he was most definitely alive again.

"Maybe it was only temporary?" Jack offered.

"Jack, that's impossible. Nobody can turn into a ghost for a couple of minutes, only to become human again minutes later." Maddie said, sighing.

"Hey, people die for a couple of minutes and come back to life a couple of minutes later, so why couldn't it happen this way too?" Mr. Manson asked, the sudden grim seriousness in him gone for the moment.

Maddie rubbed her forehead. "Because, Your Highness, the composition of ghosts and humans is too different to allow that. They might look alike, but their insides aren't the same. Ghosts are made up of a substance known as ectoplasm. It makes up everything in them, from their hair to their internal organs, to their blood." Maddie explained.

"So then, what did happen?" Mrs. Manson asked, her curiosity peeked.

"I honestly have no idea." Maddie said, letting out a long sigh. "I'll need to run a few tests to determine exactly what... Danny!" Maddie exclaimed, her violet eyes widening. The two ice blue rings had returned around his waist. Danny looked down at them, stunned, as they once again enveloped his body, turning their son into a ghost once more.

"Huh?" Danny asked, sounding confused. "I'm not..." Danny looked up at his parents, both of which nodded. "How! I was human again just a second ago!" He exclaimed, starting to panic.

"Danny, just calm down. Panicking's not going to get anyone anywhere. I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation for everything." Maddie said. "Right, Jack?"

"Right! But for now the only explanation we can give you is that the Ghost Portal's ecto-radiation really, really screwed with you!" Jack said, nodding.

"Well that's comforting to know." Danny said, slightly annoyed. He realized the mistake in his tone when he saw those assembled exchange looks. He sighed. "Sorry, I'm just not in the mood for much humor right now, dad..." He apologized. "I'm just really freaking out here."

"Well, we'll run a few tests..." Maddie began, but she was cut off by Mr. Manson, the look of forbidding seriousness on his face again.

"No." He said, simply. "You two have to get back to work on the Ghost Portal, and figure out why it malfunctioned."

"But..." Maddie and Jack began to protest, but Mr. Manson waved a hand silencing them.

"But I will have some of our other scientists run a few tests on your son. And if they can't figure out what's wrong with him, we'll take him to our spiritualists. What's important for you two now is fixing that Ghost Portal, so it doesn't malfunction like that again. We don't want to create any more..." Mr. Manson paused, eyeing Danny slightly. "...any more anomalies."

"Hey!" Danny shouted. He didn't exactly appreciate being called an anomaly. He only received a disapproving look from the two Mansons. Apparently the fact that he was Sam's best friend meant nothing to them now that he was screwed up like this. Whatever like this meant.

"But surely we would be more studied to..." Maddie began, but when the Mansons turned their disapproving look on her, she sighed, submitting to their rule. She had already pushed them as far as she could push them, and she didn't want to know what would happen to her if she pushed them too far. "...Allright. But we can see him still, right?" Maddie asked, sounding hopeful.

"It depends on what they find." Mrs. Manson said simply. "Come now Danny, don't sit there all day." She said, coaxing Danny to come towards her, and follow the two up the stairs and into one of the other research laboratories.

Danny didn't like the idea of having some strangers running tests on him, but he knew he had no choice but to go. He was really in no situation to protest-he didn't want anyone to think he had started slipping when he hadn't.

It was a bit strange though, because besides the growing panic and confusion, he felt mentally no different than he had before the accident. But perhaps that was the way it worked, no one was quite sure what it was, or when it was that ghosts went berserk, only that they all did, without exception.

He pulled himself up from the ground, standing shakily on his feet. His body felt a bit odd to him, but that was to be expected if what his mother said was true. Supposedly, if he really was a ghost, and Danny had no reason to doubt that he was, at least right now, then he was made up of something entirely different than before. Ectoplasm. He had heard his parents explain to him about it before, but now he was wishing that he had actually listened to them.

"Danny! Come on, we don't have all day!" Mrs. Manson shouted, and Danny, not wanting to annoy them any further than he thought he already had, quickly followed after them, pausing for a second to look back at his parents. They met his eyes, the three staring at each other, until another impatient call from Mrs. Manson made Danny tear himself away and hurry from them.

None of the Fentons could have ever imagined what was to come.


	2. The Princess' Investigation

AN: Chapter Two! Got a break from writing my papers. Man, I had to kamikaze my lit paper to get the rough draft done, but I did get it done! Phew! Anyways, the mysteries deepen! Please enjoy! Oh and thanks to all of my readers, reviewers, alerters, and favvers! I really have to remember to thank you all more often...

Danny Phantom doesn't belong to me, but this fic, as will as the ghost on steroids do! Oh yes, and steroids are bad for you kiddies!

Truth and Lies

Chapter Two: The Princess' Investigation

Sixteen-year old Samantha Manson sat in her room, reading the newspaper as she did every morning. She made a point of staying informed on what was going on in the world. She wasn't like other princesses would have been, only concerned about their clothing, or what noble they would marry. In fact, she found shallow people like that rather unappealing.

"I just can't believe it..." Sam said, putting down the paper and shaking her head. She was only on the first page, and yet she had already found the most stunning article. This was one thing she had known about before hand, but seeing it in print almost made it seem so much more real.

Maddie Fenton had been executed for high treason.

The official charge was conspiring with ghosts. Sam had trouble believing it, but then again, why would her parents have someone who was innocent killed? I mean sure, they could be a little flaky at times, but they weren't that stupid, and they certainly weren't cruel.

Sam wondered if it had anything to do with Danny's disappearance. Her best and only real friend had vanished about a month prior, just a few days before the Fentons' greatest work was unveiled-The Fenton Ghost Portal.

Sam had grown up being told that ghosts were evil, and from she had seen, it was true. Random ghost attacks were practically commonplace these days. Sometimes she wondered how the ghosts had escaped in the first place. According to the Fenton's there was probably another, natural ghost portal out there somewhere, though they weren't quite sure as to the location of it. The only thing they knew for sure was that it must exist.

Sam let out a deep sigh, flopping back downwards on her bed, letting her black hair spread out in a halo around her. She wore most of it down, but she kept some of it in a short ponytail held by a violet petal-like hairband.

Sam's outfit consisted of a black dress, which was practically skin tight at the top, but loosened as it trailed down into an ankle-length skirt. The dress' sleeves were cut so that her shoulders were exposed, and they were quite small, wrapping tightly around her arms. Over her dress, she wore a violet corset and a loose violet sash around her waist. She completed her outfit with a violet choker, fishnet fingerless wrist-length gloves, and black combat boots. One could tell just by looking at her that Sam was not your ordinary princess, nor did she have any intention of being one.

"What did you do?" She asked to the air, hoping that somehow the deceased mother of her best friend would answer her question. It was strange, she had always been loyal. No matter how much she turned it over in her mind, it didn't make sense.

At first she thought that Danny might have somehow died and become a ghost, but Sam pushed that option out of her mind. If that had happened, she would have been told. Once that option was out of the way, she couldn't, despite her large imagination, think of anything else. There was no possible reason that she could have betrayed them.

A thought struck her then, and she jolted up from her bed, her violet eyes wide. "That's it!" She exclaimed. "She must have been framed!"

Sam swung herself off of her bed, her booted feet fitting the ground. She couldn't believe that something as obvious as that wouldn't have occurred to her parents. That _had _to be what had happened!

"I should try talking to Mr. Fenton about it..." She said, starting to head out the door. She stopped in her tracks then, frowning. She hadn't actually seen Mr. Fenton lately, ever since she had first heard that his wife was being tried for treason. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen their other child, Jazz around either. She frowned, her brow furrowing in deep thought.

She let out a deep sigh, shaking her head. "Well, something is definitely wrong here." Sam had always been a smart one, ever since she was a child. One would be hard-put to fool her, as she was very observant.

Sam started walking again, heading out of her room, closing the door to the chamber behind her. Perhaps it would help her to sort things out if she was moving while she was thinking. She walked down the corridor, empty of anyone save herself, her boots tapping loudly against the floor. Her parents weren't around at the moment, having gone on an important trip somewhere. They wouldn't disclose anything, but Sam suspected it might have something to do with Mrs. Fenton.

She let her feet guide her down the stairs of her mansion, and before she knew it, she found herself in the Fenton's lab. She blinked, not sure why she had come here. The Fenton's assistants all looked up, blinking at her. One of them, a young prodigy by the name of Tucker Foley pulled up his goggles, walking over to her.

"Princess? Can I help you?" He asked, blinking.

"Oh, sorry. I guess I'm just a little bored..." Sam said, going with the first excuse that came to her mind. "...so I'm pretty much just letting my feet take me where they will." She paused then. "And please don't call me princess. Sam's fine."

Tucker was an odd one. Sam didn't exactly know him very well, but she had heard much about him. She had managed to sort out most of the rumors, putting together a small summary of him in her mind. From what she knew, the African-American's parents had both been in the technology industry, and their skills had seemingly passed down to their son. His parents worked rather closely with her parents, inventing new technologies in order to make life much easier.

Sam never really got into technology. She preferred magic over it, finding it much more beautiful and natural. There was so much more you could do with it too, and magic, unlike technology, never broke.

"Oh. Well, if you're that bored, why don't I show you around the lab?" Tucker asked, grinning, not attempting to hide the fact that he was attempting to flirt with her.

For all his intelligence, Tucker seemed to be rather flirtatious, considering himself a ladies man. The ladies, however, didn't think so. Sam thought it was ironic that someone with such a high IQ didn't know what to and what not to say to a woman. It must be true that gray matter didn't always correlate with social skills.

One might think Sam was lacking in the social skill department as well, but really, she just hated all of the back-stabbing, two-faced, so-called friend her parents tried to push on her all the time. One such example would be Paulina. No _there _was a girl whose brain power would provide less energy than a hamster running in a wheel. A _legless _hamster running in a wheel.

"No, that's okay. I've seen the lab plenty of times anyways." Sam said. It then occurred to her that since Tucker was around the Fentons so much, that he might know something about what had really happened. They were the ones who had taken the boy in after his parents had been killed during a ghost raid on Amity a few years ago when the ghost shield had malfunctioned. It did that from time to time, and no one could quite explain why. Sam also knew that he was also close friends with Danny, so perhaps he knew what had happened to him as well.

"Tucker, is there any chance that you know what happened with Mrs. Fenton? Or why Danny disappeared?" Sam asked him, looking both serious and worried. And she really was. Danny's continued missing-in-action status was starting to really, really worry her.

An somewhat indescribable look came over Tucker's face. He looked almost as if Sam had suddenly started to grow celery out of her ears. "Uh... why do you ask, Pri-Sam?" He asked, catching himself with her name at the last minute.

Sam's violet eyes narrowed in suspicion. "And why do you look so worried? _Do _you know something, Tucker?" She asked, her voice cold. _Could he be behind it?_ Sam quickly pushed the thought out of her head. Tucker might know something, but it was stupid to think someone the same age as her was responsible for everything.

Unless, of course, the rumor was true. Tucker had been with his parents at the time of her death, and in theory, he too should have died. There were about four separate theories explaining it.

One, that the ghosts had simply ignored him, or that he had hidden and they hadn't found him. That was the one Sam believed.

Two, that a new technology invented by his parents had somehow kept them away from him. That sounded reasonable too, but the Foleys were just regular technologic researchers-_not _ghost hunters. That was the job of the Fentons.

And three, that perhaps this wasn't really Tucker Foley at all, but rather a ghost using his body to trick everyone. Of course, _that _just sounded like an utter pile of bull-crap, and Sam had thrown it out of the window as soon as she heard it. If anyone could tell that Tucker was overshadowed, it would have been the Fentons, the people he lived with now, which only added to the theory's absurdity.

"Me? No, I'm just surprised that you'd ask something like that." Tucker said, waving his hand, a nervous gesture. "I mean, wouldn't your parents tell you?" Tucker asked, now it was his turn to be curious.

"No, they haven't told me anything." Sam said, shaking her head. That was another thing that was starting to bug her. Why hadn't her parents told her anything at all? Despite that she was the princess, she didn't know anymore than a regular citizen would. In fact, she didn't even know much about what her parents did in concern to ghosts, and it wasn't because she wasn't interested. On the contrary, she found the whole thing fascinating.

Tucker frowned, his emerald green eyes suddenly changed into calculating ones, as if he was starting to put facts together in his head. Sam frowned again, this only furthered her suspicion that Tucker knew _something. _She was swearing viciously on the inside, pissed the hell off that she was being kept in the dark. Danny was her friend too, and Sam had convinced herself that his disappearance tied to this somehow.

"Can I see Mr. Fenton, then?" Sam asked. Tucker shook his head. "What about Jazz?" Tucker once again shook his head. "Why not?"

"Because they aren't here." Tucker explained, and from the look in his eyes, she got the feeling that they weren't here because they didn't want to be.

"Well wher-" Sam began to ask about it, but she was cut off, one of the Fenton's other assistants calling over to Tucker. The teenager took off without another word, leaving a grumbling Sam behind.

"What the hell is going on here?" She asked, running a hand through her hair.

* * *

"She's asking questions."

The disembodied voice floated through the underground chamber, causing the two Mansons to shudder.

"Who?" Mrs. Manson asked.

"Your daughter." The voice replied.

"Well, surely she'll forget about the whole thing after awhile." Mr. Fenton suggested.

"You two should know your own child better than that. She's not going to stop until she gets answers, and she is quite clever. And we can't afford to take any risks, _especially _not since you lost the Fenton kid."

"For which we are deeply sorry." Mrs. Manson apologized, curtsying deeply, even though there was no one to curtsy too. "What should we do?"

"What do we usually do when people start to ask too many questions?" The voice asked, almost sounding amused.

* * *

Sam left the lab, still as confused as she had been when she had entered it, silently cursing her feet for leading her to a place that posed only more questions, instead of providing the answers. She then realized how absolutely ridiculous it was to be blaming her feet for her confused state.

"Okay, why don't we try the Fenton's room?" Sam asked herself, heading back up towards the higher level of the mansion, towards the Fenton's living quarters. She stopped first in front of Danny's, since it was the first one on the hall. She swung the door open, going inside and flicking on the light switch. Besides a thin layer of dust on it's contents, nothing seemed out of order. She sighed, and left the room, shutting the door behind her.

Her eyes fell on Maddie's room and she walked over to it, jiggling the doorknob. She found that to her disappointment, it was locked. She was half expecting it to be. She frowned and scanned the hallway, making sure that no one was coming. She took out her hairband, unclasping the hook that held it together, and bending it so that she could fit it in the keyhole. After another scan of the hallway, she set to work on picking the lock, a skill she was taught as a child, just in case anyone ever tried to kidnap her.

A few minutes later, she heard the click she had been waiting for. She pulled herself up from her crouching position, looking nervously around the hall once more, before she opened the door, making a point of closing it behind her. It wouldn't do for one of the palace guards to walk by to find the locked door of someone who had just been charged with high treason flung wide open.

She flicked on the light switch, praying that no one would notice the thin bit of light cracking through the door's gaps. She cast her eyes over the room, which was most definitely not as she had last seen it. Strewn about everywhere were countless papers, quite surprising for the normally neat Maddie. Something had definitely been going on with her.

Sam moved over towards her desk, carefully stepping over stray papers. She picked up one of the sheets of paper on the desk, and frowned, trying to analyze it. Featured in the paper was a rough sketch of the Ghost Portal, but it didn't seem to be a blueprint. Scrawled beside it was the questioning word 'Malfunction?', which caused Sam's frown to deepen further. The Ghost Portal had malfunctioned? She hadn't heard about that...

The door to the room suddenly opened and Sam's heart practically stopped, the paper dropping out of her hand. She didn't want to turn around, and she could only imagine how bad this probably looked. The princess rooting through a treasonous woman's files. She gulped slightly, gathering up her courage to turn around and face the intruder who was intruding upon her intrusion.

And gasped, almost immediately. It wasn't a human she was facing, but rather a ghost, it's crimson eyes gleaming cruelly. It was large and hulking, powerful muscles on it's body, and vicious claws protruding from it's feet and hands. It's face was severely deformed, one of it's eyes was popped out of it's head, hanging down by a few blood veins. Sam stepped back, only to bump into the chair behind her. What was a ghost doing here, now?

"Saaam..." It said, it's long tongue lolling out of it's mouth, drool dripping from it. Sam found herself shuddering involuntarily.

It lunged at her, moving incredibly fast for such a hulking thing. Sam slammed her eyes shut, not wanting her last moments of living to be looking into it's deformed face.

_"Sam!"_

The scream pierced through her heart, and Sam flung her eyes wide open. Gone was the deformed monster, and in it's place stood a teenager who looked to be about her eyes, with snow white hair. Sam felt her heart pounding in her chest, not only because she almost just died, but because the voice she had heard was so familiar.

"Danny?" She heard herself ask.

The teenager turned around then, his bright green eyes meeting hers. Sam felt her heart skip a few more beats. All this beat-skipping couldn't be good for her heart.

"Hi." He whispered, almost sheepishly, confirming the impossible suspicion that was roaring through Sam's mind. Before either could say anything else, a loud roar was heard. Danny jumped backwards, landing crouched by Sam, using one hand to keep himself from slipping and falling. The monstrous ghost had returned, and had nearly landed right on top of him.

"What _is _that thing?" Sam asked. For now that was the only question she could think of.

"A ghost pumped full of steroids." Danny replied, his eyes narrowing. For the first time, Sam noticed that his eyes were glowing, and also that he had a slight white aura around him. "...And also with a popped out eye." Danny said, taking a moment to observe it.

There was no time for words after that, as the ghost rushed at them again. Danny grabbed Sam's hand, pulling her out of harm's way. Sam felt herself getting goosebumps-Danny was ice cold, and she was starting to get the feeling that her friend might not be so different from what they now faced.

"Danny!" An unexpected voice was heard, and Tucker skidded into the room, holding the Fenton Thermos. He tossed it to him, which Danny promptly caught and flicked open, turning it on and quickly sucking the lunging ghost inside, capping it quickly so that it didn't have a chance to escape.

"Thanks, Tucker." Danny said. He blinked. "Wait, if you're here then..."

"Eh, don't worry about it. I'm tired of the whole double-agent shtick. Hi Sam!" Tucker said, turning and waving at her, as if nothing had just happened.

Sam found herself waving rather dumbly back at him, before she caught her hand, pulling it down. She looked in between Tucker and the changed Danny, confused out of her bloody mind. "Tucker... Danny..." She began, sounding calm and collected at first.

"Yeah?" They both asked, looking at her.

_"What the hell is going on?"_ Sam finished, staring at them.

Since there was now no overpowering threat, she was able to get a better look at Danny. He was paler, and his ears were pointed into slight tips. He wore a black tank top and somewhat loose black cargo pants, a silver chain belt around his waist, and black combat boots. Around his wrists and upper arms, were tight white bandages. Sam had already come to the conclusion that her best friend was now a ghost. How else could you explain it?

"Well, you see, that's..." Tucker began, but he was cut off by Danny, who was looking suspiciously around the room, as if he was hearing or sensing something they didn't.

"It's too risky to talk here. We have to go, _now._" Danny said. Without waiting, he grabbed the wrists of both Sam and Tucker, turning them both intangible and launching through the roof with them. Sam wielded her eyes shut, not wanting to see how high up they must be. She stayed silent as Danny flew them away from the palace, to what Sam assumed must have been his current home.


	3. A Little Truth

AN: Chapter Three! Overall, I'm rather pleased with this chapter. I think it turned out quite well. Things are slowly starting to fall together, but all pieces aren't in place quite yet. I hope you all enjoy! Oh, and the cheese sandwich thing was actually something my older brother did. I swear, the day he learns to cook is the day Danny Phantom isn't awesome. But, since that will never happen, DP is safe.

Danny Phantom doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Butch Hartman!

Truth and Lies

Chapter Three: A Little Truth

"Allright you two, now would you explain to me what is going on here?"

Sam Manson, the heir to the Manson family throne asked, staring at the two teenage boys in front of her. One was her childhood friend, Danny Fenton, and though he had changed drastically, Sam could still see the boy she knew so well in him.

The other was Tucker Foley, a scientific prodigy who worked as a lab assistant for Danny's parents after they had taken him in after his parents had been murdered by ghosts. He was also a long time friend of Danny's, although Sam didn't honestly know him that well. They're paths didn't cross very much.

Danny sighed, running a hand through his snow white hair. Normally he would have turned back into his human form by now, but he wanted to take the revelation of what had happened to him slow with Sam. He didn't want to risk a misunderstanding, considering the fact that this was a very sensitive, and very important issue.

After he had escaped with them from the Manson mansion, Danny had taken Tucker and Sam to his home, which was also the headquarters of a secret rebel organization against Sam's parents. It was very secret at the moment, considering that they had yet to do anything major in the progress of their plans.

It might seem odd of Danny to be in a movement to overthrow his best friend's parents, but he did have his reasons for it.

"Look, Sam, I know that I'm going to say some stuff that's going to be pretty hard for you to believe, but you have to promise to listen to me the entire time, okay?" Danny asked her, though he didn't make eye contact. If he was human, it would have been a different story, however he didn't feel like emphasizing the fact that he was currently a ghost by staring at her with glowing eyes.

"Danny, you know I always listen." Sam said, looking up at him. She was sitting down in a chair at the moment, one of the few furnishings in the room. There was also a desk, a bed, other chairs, a night-stand and what appeared to be a medical cabinet on one of the walls. Sam wondered exactly why a ghost would need a bed, but she didn't let it bother her much. Right now, furnishings weren't exactly the most important thing on her mind.

Danny let out a deep sigh and sat down in another chair, facing across from Sam. "I... there was a malfunction with the Ghost Portal." Danny began, and Sam nodded.

"Yeah, I saw that in your mother's notes before that... thing attacked me." Sam said.

"Well, I was caught in the middle of it." Danny continued. "It let out a huge blast of ecto-radiation." He sighed. "And... it changed me."

"So you're a ghost now?" Sam asked, looking at him sympathetically.

Danny shook his head. "No, actually. I'm only half-ghost." He looked up at Sam, who was staring at him blankly, not understanding. Danny sighed. "Here, I'll show you." With that, the two icy blue rings of light appeared around his waist, running down the length of his body, turning him back into his human form. His now light blue eyes met with Sam's. "See?"

Sam stared at him, amazed. Her mouth hung open a little bit, and she quickly closed it, embarrassed by how stupid she must have looked at the moment. She blinked a few times, just to make sure what she was seeing in front of her wasn't a lie. Every time she opened her eyes though, the human Danny was still sitting there, staring at her, looking somewhat embarrassed himself.

Sam eventually found her voice, clearing her throat. "Is... um, that why you're not going crazy?" She asked, sheepishly.

Danny and Tucker exchanged a look. Tucker looked back at her, frowning. "You don't know?" He asked. Sam blinked, not sure of what she was supposed to be knowing. Tucker sighed. "Most ghosts don't naturally go berserk."

"Then, why...?" Sam asked, her eyebrows knitting in confusion.

"It's a drug." Danny answered, his eyes now gazing down at his feet. "You're parents have been catching ghosts on their own for ages and injecting them with a drug that makes them go berserk. Like that one ghost who attacked you earlier."

Sam stared at Danny, not believing the words that had just come out of his mouth. "_What?_" She asked. "_What!_" She asked again. "Why would they do something like that?"

Danny sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I'm not sure _why_, Sam." He looked at her, his eyes meeting with hers. "All I know is that they _are_."

"I can't believe it..." Sam whispered, looking down at her feet. She had no reason to believe that Danny was lying, but at the same time, she prayed that he was. She did find her parents to be annoying, but she didn't want to believe that they were actually somehow evil. It just didn't make any sense. She felt like there was something she was missing, but for the life of her, she couldn't figure out what that something was.

"I know it's hard, Sam, but it's true." Danny said, getting up from the chair, coming close to her. He really felt bad for having to be the bearer of bad news like this, but Sam had to know. It probably wasn't coincidence that the ghost had attacked her while she was looking for some answers. It had probably been planned.

"Danny... I..." Sam spoke, looking up at her old friend. "I'm just... a little confused right now."

Danny nodded and pulled away from her. "I understand. If you need me and Tucker, we'll be just down the hall." He said, smiling awkwardly at her. Sam returned the smile, nodding. Danny and Tucker left then, leaving Sam to her alone time.

Sam let out a long sigh, getting up from the chair and pacing around the room. She stopped in front of the door, her eyes scanning the room again. So this is where Danny had been living for the past month or so, ever since he had disappeared. She wondered if he knew about his mother's execution. It was most likely that he did.

She wondered how long Tucker had been serving as some kind of double agent. She assumed he was working for some kind of rebellion, although that hadn't been made clear yet. She wondered whether or not he could be trusted. Maybe he was just lying, and he had tricked Danny...

"No..." Sam said to herself, shaking her head. "No, I don't think he's lying." For all that he was a double agent, Tucker really didn't seem the lying kind. He actually seemed like a really nice guy and now she felt a bit guilty for not getting to know him before all of this. Well, she would try and do that now.

She didn't want to think on her parents. Not right now. It hurt for her even to remember them. Were all of the happy times she had with them just lies? How long had they been doing this? She didn't want to think about it, so she let her mind drift to other subjects.

Her eyes drifted over to the medicine cabinet, and she frowned. It seemed odd, and she had to admit she was slightly curious about what it might contain. She was very tempted to open it, but at the same time, she didn't want to violate Danny's privacy. She frowned, and instead went over to the bed, flopping down on it.

She was tired. Danny probably wouldn't mind if she took a nap on his bed. Besides, sleeping would help unclutter her mind. Maybe then she could look at this problem from a fresh perspective.

* * *

"You know, you left her in your room."

"So? She's not a snoop, Tucker." Danny said, arching an eyebrow. They were currently in Tucker's room. The prodigy was currently fiddling around with some chemicals and test tubes, a needle lying on the side of his desk. He turned around to look at Danny, arching an eyebrow.

"You're sure we can trust her. She is their daughter, you know." He said.

"Tucker, Sam's a good person." Danny said, sighing. "She's _nothing _like her parents. She's not going to betray us. Besides, remember, she was looking for information about what really happened. And she was attacked for it, too."

"It could have been a set-up." Tucker said. "Remember what happened the last time you went and trusted someone when you shouldn't have?" He asked.

"That's different." Danny said, glaring at him. "I didn't know about all of this back then. I was just as naive as she was."

"Allright, but if this backfires, know that I'm blaming you." Tucker turned around, picking up the empty needle and pouring one of the beakers inside of it. "I can't believe you left yours back in your room." He turned back around, holding the needle.

"Well, I couldn't exactly take them out with her around." Danny glared at Tucker, his eyes flashing green.

Tucker sighed. "Calm down, Danny. You're getting moody already."

Danny sighed, his eyes fading back into light blue. "Sorry Tucker. You know it's harder for me."

"Yeah, I know. Give me your arm and turn ghost." Tucker said. After turning into his ghost self, Danny lifted up his left arm, letting Tucker take hold of it. Tucker carefully held the needle in his mouth, unwrapping the bandages around upper arm. The skin underneath them was dotted with injection marks. "You know, you should really learn how to do this yourself."

"I'm not too keen on the idea of sticking myself with a needle." Danny said.

Setting aside the bandages, Tucker carefully took the needle out of his mouth, and found the spot on his arm that he was looking for. He slowly sunk the needle into his friend's flesh, pushing in the needle's contents until it was empty. "Okay, done." He said, putting down the needle, and re-wrapping the bandages.

"Thanks, Tuck." Danny said, grinning.

"No problem. It'd be a cold day in hell before I lose my best friend to some stupid drug." Tucker said, shrugging.

* * *

"Princess?"

Sam's eyes blinked slowly open, disoriented and confused. She couldn't remember where she was. She slowly turned her head, looking at the source of the voice.

Her eyes went wide then, and she woke up instantly, jolting up from her bed. Sitting in a chair besides her was a green-skinned woman, her hair tied in a tight, pale blonde braid, wearing a blue princess gown. Sam's original reaction relaxed, however, once she saw the pleasant look on the ghost woman's face.

"My apologies, did I frighten you?" The ghost woman asked.

Sam shook her head, the events that brought her here coming back to her now. "No... I just, didn't expect to see you there." She smiled and offered her hand. It was rather logical to think that there were more ghosts besides Danny that had not fallen to the effect of the drug. "I'm Sam."

The ghost woman smiled. "Dora Mattingly. It's a pleasure to meet you, Princess."

"No, please, just call me Sam. Princess sounds so formal." Sam laughed lightly. She always had been uncomfortable when people called her princess. It felt so impersonal, and it made her feel somehow snooty.

Dora nodded. "Sam it is then. Your friends sent me in here to inform you that lunch is just about ready, and to have me show you how to get to the dining hall."

Sam's eyes widened. "It's time for lunch already?" She asked, surprised. She didn't think that she had been sleeping for so long! A blush came across her face, terribly embarrassed. She hoped that Danny didn't think that she had been hogging his room all morning. "Oh man... Danny's going to be so mad at me for taking it from him."

Dora laughed. "Don't worry. He's not upset at all. He and Tucker have been rather busy this morning."

"Doing what?" Sam asked, curious, hoping that she didn't sound terribly nosy.

Dora smiled. "I believe that they're planning to free the rest of his family." The ghost woman got up then, brushing off her skirts. Sam caught sight of the straps of a golden amulet, the actual amulet was hidden under her dress. "Do you care for lunch?" She asked.

"Yeah, if it's not any trouble." Sam said, getting up from Danny's bed, taking a quick second to level her hair. She wasn't much of one to care terribly about how she looked, at least not in the terms of make-up and perfumes, but she didn't want to seem like she was some sort of drunken hobo.

"Not at all." Dora shook her head. "This way." Sam followed the ghost woman as she lead her down the hall and down a flight of stairs. They soon arrived in the kitchen.

Being as this was her first time out of Danny's room since she had arrived, Sam was a bit surprised to find that she was in what appeared to be a regular house. Then again, having a base for a rebellion in some place as unassuming as a house was really a stroke of genius.

"Hey Sam!"

Sam blinked, looking around in confusion, trying to find out where Danny's voice had come from. She looked up, and nearly had a heart attack when she saw him hanging in the air above her, getting some plates from a higher cabinet. He was a ghost again, and he was grinning at her.

"Oh... Hi Danny." Sam said. She hadn't expected that. This would take some getting used to on her part. Danny landed in front of her, holding a small stake of plates.

"Don't worry, we made some vegetarian dishes for you." He said, grinning, setting the plates down, shifting back into his human form as he did so. He turned around. "Have a seat!" He offered her a chair, pulling it out.

"Thanks." Sam smiled, taking the seat. "So, is it just you, me, and Tucker eating then?" She asked, noticing that there were only three places.

Danny nodded as he took his seat to the right side of Sam. "Yeah. We're the only humans here."

Tucker emerged from the kitchen, holding a plate of sandwiches. He placed it on the table and took the chair to the left side of Sam, grinning. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty! I thought for awhile there we'd have to have Prince Charming over there wake you up."

Sam and Danny both instantly turned a bright shade of crimson. Danny glared slightly at Tucker, annoyed at his friend. He _knew _that he had feelings for Sam, and now he was just poking fun at them! Tucker shot a smile back at him, either oblivious to his friend's annoyance, or just not caring.

Danny cleared his throat. "Anyways, Sam, we made some sandwiches with just some lettuce and tomatoes for you. Sorry, we're not much of vegetarian cooks." He apologized.

"Which isn't surprising, considering we're not much regular cooks anyways." Tucker added, shrugging. "Like the time when Danny wreaked the toaster by trying to make grilled cheese sandwiches by putting the cheese and the bread in the toaster."

"Oh yeah?" Danny said, arching an eyebrow. "What about the time _you _blew up the microwave because you tried to stick two giant size burritos in there at once?"

Sam laughed, taking the lettuce and tomato sandwiches from the plate. Like this, it was almost easy for her to forget all of the strange things that had happened as of late, and the rather disturbing discovery about what her parents had been doing. But those thoughts and memories were still all there, at the back of her mind. She still didn't want to think too much about them.

She knew she would have to deal with them sometime, and most likely in the coming days. But for now, she just didn't want to think about it.

* * *

"You _lost _her?" The voice asked, enraged. The torches in the chamber flickered brighter as it spoke, yet no light was cast on the voice's owner. "How could you _lose _her?"

"We thought we had her, Master, but it seems as if that interfering boy has gotten in our way again." Mr. Manson apologized. "But in the good news department, we have finally discovered the mole in our workings. That prodigy orphan boy, Tucker Foley. He fled with the hybrid and our daughter."

The voice let out an exasperated sigh. "I suppose that at least is good news. I assume you have your guards out looking for them?"

"As indiscreetly as we can, sir." Mrs. Manson said, curtsying. "It wouldn't do you any good if we stirred up a panic right now. People are still a tad dazed by Maddie Fenton's execution last night."

"That will have to do." The voice obliged. There was a long pause until the voice spoke again. "The hybrid, how is he doing?"

Mr. Manson frowned. "According to our surveillance from when he was in the castle, he seems to be doing quite well. He's showing no signs that the drugs are working anymore."

"I don't like the sound of that." The voice said. "Look into what the Foley boy was researching before the hybrid disappeared from our lab. Perhaps that will provide us with some clues to his newfound immunity... and the way to undo it, as well."

"Yes Master." The Mansons bowed, turning to leave.

* * *

After lunch, Danny had shown Sam to her own room. There were plenty available in the three story house, as there weren't that many members of the little rebellion. Sam's suspicions that it was a rebellion were confirmed, and, while it felt a bit awkward to be the daughter of who they were rebelling against, she found it rather easy to accept.

After showing her to her room, Danny had left, apologizing and saying that there was something he had to do. Sam almost expected that too. He would probably be very busy.

Sam sighed, staring up at the ceiling, wondering what would happen next. She got up from the cushioned chair in which she was relaxing, and left her room. It had been about an hour since she had last seen Danny, so perhaps he wasn't so busy anymore. She went to his room and peeked the door open, peering in. "Danny?"

Danny's wide now-green eyes met Sam's, surprised to see her there. Sam frowned, confused, seeing that Tucker was in the room as well. Her confusion only deepened when she saw the needle that Tucker was holding, injecting it into a spot on Danny's right wrist.

_You're parents have been catching ghosts and injecting them with a drug that makes them go berserk._

"Danny...?" Sam asked slowly. "You..."

"Yeah." Danny looked down, his eyes staring at the ground. "Sorry, Sam."


	4. Past and Present Danger

AN: YAY! Chapter Four. You may worship me now. Worship me or I shall stick you in a room with a moose! (coughs) Ahem, anyways, there are some parts of this chapter that I like, and some that I think I could have written better. I almost made myself cry with one of these parts. Now, I must go, and see what happens when you give catnip to a cat whose already been given a tranquilizer! Hm, I should get some bandages in case I get maimed...

Danny Phantom doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Butch Hartman.

* * *

Truth and Lies

Chapter Four: Past and Present Danger

Sam stood there, simply staring at the sight before her, Danny's confession ringing in her ears. Her violet eyes were wide, both hurt and sympathy showing in them. Hurt because she felt somehow wronged that Danny hadn't told her about the fact that he too had been injected with the drug and sympathy because she couldn't even begin to imagine how that must feel to him.

"Danny..." She began, before she realized that she had no idea of what to say. She closed her mouth and swallowed a bit, biting her lip before a few words came to her. "I'm sorry..." She said slowly, it really was the only thing that she could think to say, but somehow it seemed pathetic and useless.

Danny looked at her, shaking his head. "It's not your fault Sam. I don't blame you for any of this." He smiled sadly, his eyes filling up with the pain of remembering. "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I shouldn't have been so trusting."

"Danny!" Sam said, shocked. "Danny, this isn't your fault either! If it's anyone's fault at all, then it's my parents!" She came over to him, placing her hands on one of his. "Nobody could _ever _blame you for what happened to you."

Danny smiled at her weakly. "Thanks, Sam."

Tucker withdrew the needle from the hybrid's arm, having finished injecting him with the suppressant. "Normally ghosts only need one shot a week to counter the effects of the berserk drug, but it seems that Danny's human half actually enhances it's effect. I have to inject him about twice a day to keep him stable."

"She doesn't need to know all that!" Danny shot a glare at Tucker, who shrugged.

"See what I mean? Even _with _the drugs, he can be a little cranky." The African-American teenager put the needle back into the medicine cabinet, the one Sam had been wondering about earlier. Well, now she knew what was in it, but she definitely didn't like it.

"How did you come across the suppressant anyways?" Sam asked, curious, taking a seat in a spare chair. "And how did you come across what my parent's were doing in the first place, Tucker? I mean, I know how Danny did..." She glanced at him, amused when a slight blush formed on his cheeks. She turned back to Tucker then. "But I don't know how you did."

Tucker frowned. "Well, the suppressant was actually one of my parent's inventions. They were trying to cure the common cold... but it looks like they missed their mark big time." He explained. "It's actually why I'm still around today. Because the ghosts that attacked my parents got exposed to it, I was able to survive. After the battle I took my parents notes on it and hide them away. That's when I first knew that something was up."

"After the Fentons took me in, I began doing some research of my own. I was able to capture one of the attacking ghosts unknown to both the Fentons and the Mansons, and I was able to find the drug in their system. When I gave them some more of the suppressant, I found that the ghost became quite reasonable." He continued on. "That ghost was Dora, in case you were wondering. She's been with us ever since then."

"I see..." Sam said, nodding. It made sense.

"When she told me she had been taken and drugged, I began to try to dig around for information as quietly as possible." Tucker continued. He looked over towards Danny. "And then he got into the accident with the Ghost Portal. I wasn't there at the time, but I wish I was." He sighed. "Maybe I could have stopped your parents from taking him."

"My parents _thought _they would help me." Danny explained, looking at Sam. "But in reality, what they really wanted to do was study me, and then take me for their own." He ran a hand through his snow white hair. "And they did..."

"Yeah, but I busted him out!" Tucker said, flashing a grin. "You can thank Dora for the rescue effort. Nothing scares away a bunch of scientists like a ghost dragon on the attack." He laughed once, before continuing on with his explanation. "I was planning on staying after that, to be an insider, but then you got in trouble, and Danny just had to play all hero. You have got to work on that hero complex, man." He said, eyeing Danny.

Danny shot him a glare. "Well I couldn't exactly leave my childhood friend to be torn apart by some deformed ghost on steroids!" He frowned. "And I do not have a hero complex." He added, annoyed.

"_Suureee _you don't." Tucker said, grinning. "And your father is the height of physical fitness."

Sam couldn't help herself, and she let out a burst of laughter, which earned her a glare from Danny. She smiled at him, getting up from her chair and taking a seat on the bed next to him. "Aw, come on Danny." She said jokingly. "Lighten up."

Even while she was smiling and joking, Sam couldn't forget everything she had learned about her world in the past few hours. Everything she knew had been turned upside-down. Her parents were causing the ghost attacks, taking ghosts and using a drug on them to cause them to enter a berserk state. The fact that she had been attacked by such a ghost was not lost to her, but she found it hard to believe that her parents might want her dead. They _were _her parents, right? It was hard to imagine them doing any of this, but she knew at the same time that what Danny and Tucker were saying was true.

And Danny was half-living proof of it. She glanced over at him, taking in the sight of the snow white hair and the bright green eyes. He could almost pass for a human, unlike some of the other ghosts she had encountered. It was hard for her to believe that there was a drug running through his blood right now that could change him, make him like all the other berserker ghosts that Tucker had told her about.

It was all very hard to believe. It all felt like some sort of strange dream, a long one that she didn't seem to be able to wake up from. Danny's disappearance, and his reappearance as a half-ghost, Tucker's little rebellion, Maddie Fenton's execution and the other two members of the Fenton family going missing, and being attacked by a ghost.

"I am grateful that you saved me." She spoke then, her voice barely a whisper. She saw the annoyed look in Danny's eyes soften. When she had first seen those ghostly green orbs, she could barely recognize that they belonged to her best and only friend. But now that she looked harder, she could see it. They were alien to her, and yet, at the same time, they felt so familiar. It was a strange feeling, and she couldn't help but wonder how Danny must have felt whenever he caught a look of himself in the mirror.

She knew he could turn back to his human form, she had seen him do it. And yet even there, his eyes seemed somewhat different-there was something more added to them. His green eyes weren't able to express much emotion, but when she saw his blue eyes, she felt almost as if she could see everything that he had gone through the past month, and everything that he was feeling inside. Whoever it was that said that eyes were the windows to the soul knew what they were talking about.

"It wasn't a problem at all." He said, smiling. "I'm just happy I can finally see you again."

"Danny..." She looked up at him, uncertain how to bring up the topic. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tucker edging out of the room. For some reason, she got the feeling that he somehow felt like a third wheel. She waited until the prodigy was gone until she spoke again. "Do you know what happened to your mother?" She asked quietly, gazing at him sympathetically.

"Yeah..." He whispered, looking down, his eyes hidden by a veil of snow white hair. "I heard about it from Tucker..."

"I'm sorry..." Sam whispered. Acting on pure instinct, she reached out and embraced the ghost hybrid, wrapping her arms tightly around him, allowing him to place his head on her shoulders. "I'm so sorry about that, Danny. She was a wonderful person."

"I tried to stop them..." He whispered. "But they knew that I would come. They put up a ghost shield around the area, and I couldn't get in." He looked up, pulling himself away from Sam's embrace. "She tried to help me, you know. She suspected something was wrong when they wouldn't let me see her, and she started to look into things..." He hung his head back down. "She found out what they were doing to me, and tried to break me out. It didn't work."

Sam said nothing, not knowing what to say. She didn't know if there was anything at all that was right to say at a time like this. So she kept silent, letting her friend continue.

"The last I saw of her was when they had knocked her out." He continued. "I couldn't do anything to save her... I was too weak." He mumbled, looking down at his hands, opening and closing them repeatedly as he remembered what had happened. "After that, they didn't waste anymore time with studying, and injected me with the drug."

He stopped his hand movements, placing his left on his face. "It was... awful." He said, almost with a hint of bitter laughter in it. "It was _beyond _awful. I was... god, I was so angry and I felt like... like some kind of animal, and I couldn't control anything that I did. I remember everything, but it all seems like some sort of horrible nightmare." He dropped his hand down. "And the worst part was that even while my ghost half was succumbing to it, my human side still knew about what was happening to me. I was aware of everything, but I couldn't _do _anything to stop myself. I-"

Sam cut him off there, cupping his hands between her gloved ones. Danny looked up at her, his eyes searching her face, almost as if he was trying to desperately place the emotion that she wore on it.

Sam smiled softly, leaning close to him and planting a soft kiss on his hands. It wasn't meant to be reassuring, just calming. Her mother had used to do it to her when she was younger, and was upset about something. The irony that she was using it now to help calm someone upset about something that her mother had in part done to him was not lost on her, not even at a moment like this.

"Danny, nobody can blame you for what was done to you." She whispered, her violet eyes meeting his bright green ones. "Nobody can ever blame you for having something inside of you that you can't control." She smiled sympathetically at him. "I'm not going to say I can understand, because I can't, and I might not ever be able too. But what I will say is that I will always stand by you. _Always_. Even if the drug takes over, and you lose your mind, I'll still be besides you. Just like you were always there when I needed a friend. I promise."

Danny averted his gaze from hers. "Even if I hurt someone?" He asked. "Even if I hurt you?"

She nodded. "Even if you hurt someone. Even if it's me."

Danny let out a shuddering breath then, and Sam's smile grew slightly. The ghost hybrid closed his eyes, taking in a few deep breaths, before he opened them once again. Instead of the panicked expression he wore earlier, he now seemed much calmer. Sam was glad to see it.

"Thank you, Sam." He said slowly. "Sometimes I don't know what I would do without you."

"Probably something stupid." She teased lightly, moving their hands back down and letting go of his. "I'm happy to see you again, Danny. And I'll keep that promise."

* * *

"I _told _you already, I have an appointment with the King." An annoyed voice could be heard saying in front of the palace gates. A few curious bystanders stopped to watch the spectacle, all of them looking curiously at the African-American female attempting to gain access to the palace. The girl in herself was quite unusual, but the fact that she was trying to get into the palace when the King had decreed earlier in the day that the gates were closed to all outsiders made it even more unusual.

The girl appeared to be no older than eighteen, with a mess of curly black hair held back in a ponytail. Her apple green eyes were set in a glaring look, and it was clear that she was annoyed at the palace guard. She wore a tight red body suit, that combined with a pair of black leather, elbow-length, fingerless gloves and a pair of black leather boots, covered most of her body.

Over the bodysuit, she wore a few odd pieces of armor. She wore a black-painted chest plate that extended over her right shoulder, but left her left shoulder unarmored. She wore a similarly colored piece of groin armor, as well as a pair of vambraces. The vambraces stood out on her outfit-as opposed to being painted black like the other pieces of armor, they remained their natural steel color, all except for two bars of glowing green energy that ran down on each one.

She wore a sword belt over her groin armor, with a short sword sheathed within it. It had the same bar of glowing green energy running down the handle, one of the two reasons that made it unusual. The other was for the fact that many people no longer used swords, finding that guns and other weapons were far easier to use, and took less time to learn.

"And I told you that the King has said that the palace is closed to outsiders today. I doubt you have an appointment with him." The guard responded.

"Then why don't you call him and ask?" The swordswoman asked, irritated. "Call him and say that Valerie Gray is here."

"Very well." The guard said, rolling his eyes and ducking back into the gates to call. Valerie waited impatiently for him to come back out, her arms crossed. She glanced over her shoulder at the people who were watching her. The people all quickly stopped staring, and resumed whatever it was that they were doing. Valerie shook her head and looked back at the gate, having no doubts that the people had begun to stare at her again, now that she had looked away.

A few moments later, a rather embarrassed looking guard emerged back from the gate. He coughed once. "I'm sorry Miss Gray. Right this way please." He stepped aside, allowing her access into the palace. Valerie mumbled something under her breath about incompetence, and entered into the gate.

The guard followed behind her, unaware of her remarks. "If you'll come this way, I'll lead you to the King and Queen." He took the lead, and Valerie fell in step behind him, following him until they had reached the throne room. It was empty, except for the Mansons.

"Thank you." Mr. Manson spoke, motioning for the guard to leave. He bowed and hurried out of his presence, still embarrassed at his mistake. Valerie stood where she had entered, only slightly inclining her head.

"Miss Gray. I apologize for the wait." Mr. Manson began. "But we seem to be in dire need of your services."

"Must be some ghost if the King and Queen need my help." The swordswomen said, arching an eyebrow. "I'm not going to do this job for free, even if you are the King and Queen." She added.

"Oh, don't worry about that." Mrs. Manson smiled sweetly. "Of course we'll pay you your full fee!"

Valerie nodded. "So what ghost is it that I'm after?" She asked. "I heard you've been having some trouble lately with a dragon ghost. Is that the one?"

"No, but we would be pleased if you could catch her as well. Which, of course, we would pay your full fee for." Mr. Manson added. "No, the ghost we want you to capture is this one." He stepped off of his throne and pulled out a picture, handing it to her. "We had him captured, but due to a traitor in out midsts, he managed to escape. He is violent and dangerous, and furthermore, he has kidnapped my daughter. We want you to capture him for us."

Valerie looked down at the picture, frowning. The picture appeared as if it had been taken from a security camera recording, grainy, but good enough to make out. The ghost in it hardly looked any older than she did-in fact, he actually looked a few years younger. "White hair and green eyes..." She mumbled to herself.

She looked back up at her current employer. "Allright. I'll capture him."


	5. Of Hunters and Guilt

**AN: **Huzzah! Chapter Five! Wow, I'm on a roll lately. Might as well take advantage of it while I can and update as much as possible! I'm pretty happy with how this chapter came out. Just a reminder, this world is a blend of both the modern and medieval world. And apparently, the drinking age is eighteen, since Valerie's in a bar later on in the chapter. Anyways, as always, thanks for reading and reviewing! I love you all! (snugs)

Danny Phantom doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Butch Hartman. I'm not making a profit off of this. Oh? Those millions of dollars? Um... those came from uh... the money fairy. Yes.

* * *

Truth and Lies

Chapter Five: Of Hunters and Guilt

"You're going to stand out way too much if you wear that, Sam."

Princess Samantha Manson turned around in a huff, her violet eyes glaring at her best and oldest friend, Danny Fenton. "And you don't?" She retorted, looking him over. She blinked a few times, realizing that he had tied a black bandanna over his white hair, and now wore a black tinted visor to hide his bright green eyes.

She had volunteered to go along with Danny while he picked up some supplies. Normally he did it on his own, Tucker not chancing going out in the open. Before this, he couldn't be seen with him, and now he wouldn't go out for fear that someone might recognize him, and that he might have been declared a traitor.

"Well, less than you." She shot back. Even with the bandanna and sunglasses, he still stood out like a sore thumb. Not so much as Dora, true, but still. "Why is it that you have to go out in ghost form anyways? Wouldn't people be less suspicious of you as Danny Fenton?"

He cocked an eyebrow. "Danny Fenton?" He asked. "You mean the same Danny Fenton that went missing over a month ago? The very same Danny Fenton who is the son of the traitoress Maddie Fenton, recently executed? I'd stick out more than you would in that outfit." He motioned to her corseted dress.

Sam frowned slightly. "I guess you do have a point there." Her gaze trailed down her own outfit. She had to admit, she would stand out. And she had no doubts that word of her disappearance had gotten out by now. It wouldn't do for her to be seen walking around with a ghost right now. "Any chance you guys have any spare woman's clothing?" She ventured.

"I'm sure Dora has plenty. I'll go ask her to donate." The white-haired boy grinned, leaving Sam alone in her room.

She watched him leave, before she flopped down on her bed, sitting on it with her legs stretched in front of her. She sighed. She had been here for about a day now, and she still hadn't gotten any more used to it. She idly wondered exactly what kind of news had gotten out to the public about her disappearance, and what her parents were doing about it.

Oh gods, her parents. What were they thinking when they started to do this? Were they thinking anything at all? Sam shook her head, her violet eyes closed. No matter how she turned it in her head, she just couldn't see them doing something like this. Granted, they were a tad overprotective and stuck too closely to the old traditions for her taste, but she couldn't see them as being evil.

The thought had crossed her mind that maybe it wasn't their fault at all. But surely she would have noticed something wrong if something had happened to them. But she had never seen anything strange about her parents.

Another sigh was let from her lips. "It's all just too complicated to think about. I'll try and piece it together later." Though she said that, it seemed everytime that she did settle down to think about it, she only came to the same conclusion, and pushed it off again.

"What is?" Danny asked, entering the room once more, holding a bundle of clothing over his arm.

Sam shook her head. "Nothing. I was just thinking..." She trailed off, getting up from the bed and taking the clothing bundle from his arms.

Danny gave her a weak smile. "About your parents?" He didn't even have to see her nod to know that was what it was. He couldn't help but feel guilty, knowing that in a way he was responsible for her confusion, and for her pain. And though she tried to hide it, he had known her long enough when she was trying to keep something from coming to the surface.

"I'm just not sure what to think, Danny." Sam admitted, looking at him. "I don't think you and Tucker are lying... you're proof enough of that..." She shook her head. "It's just that... I never thought they could do anything like this."

She looked down then, so that he wouldn't see the guilt that was in her eyes. "And what they did to you... I can't forgive it..." Her next words were spoken in what was barely a whisper, and if it weren't for the fact that Danny's hearing surpassed normal levels, he might not have even heard it.

"...and for some reason I can't help but feel responsible for it..."

"Sam..." The ghost hybrid began, tilting up her chin so that she looked at him, pushing up the visor that hid his unusual green eyes, looking at her as sympathetically as he could with them. "Listen to me, allright? This isn't your fault. None of it is."

Sam took in a shuddering breath, averting her eyes from his. "I know that, Danny, I really do... but..." She sighed. "I just can't help it. They're my parents. I should have seen something was wrong. I should have looked into things harder when you disappeared."

She shook her head, taking a step back from him, clutching the bundle of clothing in her arms tightly. "I should have tried harder. Maybe if I had then... you wouldn't have that drug in you..." She looked up at him. "And you and Tucker wouldn't have to be in hiding."

Danny didn't know what to say and so he did the first thing that came to mind-he embraced her, his cold arms wrapping around her warm body. He felt a slight shiver run through her as he made contact with her and turned himself human again so that she wouldn't have to feel the chill.

"Sam... No matter what, I'm never going to blame this on you..." He whispered when he pulled back from the embrace. "This isn't anyone's fault. What happened to me..." He shook his head, his blue eyes closing in remembrance. "It was just an accident. And your parents might have made it worse..." His eyes opened, the blue staring into her violet. "...but the point is, is that your parents aren't you."

Sam managed to crack a smile. She knew that he was right-it really wasn't anyone's fault that he had become what he was. And her parents might have done serious damage to him, but she felt like there was something that could still be done to fix it.

And she was going to be the one to try.

"Thank you, Danny..." Her smile became stronger. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Danny flashed a grin, his blue eyes twinkling playfully, for the moment all the pain hidden in their depths vanished. "Probably something stupid." He said, teasingly using the same thing that she had said to him earlier when he had given her the same line.

"Oh hush!" She pushed him playfully. "Now get out of her so I can change into something a little less conspicuous." She shifted the bundle so that she had it over one arm, pushing her old friend out of her room. "And don't even think about using those ghost powers to peek mister. I will find out."

"Who'd want to peek on you?" He made a mock face of disgust, looking like he was about to see his lunch again.

Sam didn't reply, she merely stuck her tongue out at him and closed the door.

* * *

Valerie Gray sat, her elbows on the bar table, propping up her chin, staring down at the three photographs in front of her. She sighed in thought, shifting the weight of her head to her left hand, the other one dropping down to tap idly on the wood. She had spent the rest of the afternoon compiling as much information as she could on her target, but she still had no idea of where to begin looking for him.

Her mind drifted back towards her conversation with the King and Queen earlier on in the day, her green eyes closing.

_"This is the one kidnapped your daughter?" She asked, arching a skeptical eyebrow. The ghost boy in the photograph didn't look entirely menacing-in fact, he almost looked human. _

_She had the uneasy feeling that she had seen his face somewhere before, but she couldn't place it. She had surely never met the ghost before, though the possibility that she might have met him as a human crossed her mind briefly. She shook it off though-it didn't matter who he was in life, now that he had joined the dead._

_The king nodded firmly. "Oh yes. Granted, he might not look like much, but as we've found, looks can be deceiving." The king frowned deeply, as if something was upsetting him greatly. "We made the mistake of taking him as harmless too, and we have five dead guards to show for it."_

_"He goes by the name of Phantom." His wife added, seeing that her husband had neglected to mention it._

_Valerie nodded slowly. "I see..." She would have to keep that in mind and make sure she was on her top guard when she finally encountered the ghost. "And what do you know about the traitor that helped him to escape?" She asked._

_The king held up another photograph, this one of much better quality than the first. "Tucker Foley. He was studying under the guidance of Jack and Madeline Fenton, that traitoress." He shook his head. "We should have known there was something suspicious about him when the ghosts that killed his parents spared him."_

_Valerie frowned, taking the photograph. An African-American male of no more than sixteen staring back at her, through green eyes. He, like his counterpart, looked harmless. "Have they made any demands?" She asked, glancing up from the photograph._

_His wife, the Queen, sighed deeply, shaking her head in sadness. "No, I'm afraid that we haven't heard any word from them since they took her. I'm so terrified for my little Sammie right now..."_

_"There, there, honey." Her husband reassured her, patting her hand. "I'm sure she'll be just fine. She's a Manson after all, and we're fighters, the whole lot of us."_

_Valerie had to roll her eyes then, grateful that neither of her rulers were looking at her. "If you have no further information to provide me, my lord and lady, then I shall take my leave, and begin to look for them."_

_"Oh, there is one more person we want you to look for, Miss Gray." The King spoke up as she turned to leave, pulling out another photograph. _

_This was a face she knew a little bit better, and her eyebrow shot up in surprise. "Danny Fenton?" She asked, her voice uncertain. "What does he have to do with this?" _

_She had met the raven-haired teenager before. Actually, it was his mother who had trained her when she had first decided to become a ghost hunter. She had some trouble believing that the woman could turn traitor, but stranger things had happened in this world. And it had been years since she had seen her._

_She remembered Danny as a twelve-year old. He was an adorable little child, who almost always seemed to have a smile on his face. She had always thought that he was such a little sweetheart, and that when he grew up, there would be quite the number of ladies who would want him._

_"He went missing shortly after we discovered Madeline's treacherous plots." An expression of concern crossed over the King's face. "We cannot help but worry for the boy. We would be pleased if you would keep your eyes open for him as well. Which," he added, "we will pay you for."_

"Ma'am!" The voice of the bartender snapped her back into reality, and she blinked a few times in surprise. "Your drink." He said, an eyebrow arched as he handed it to her.

Valerie shook her head, mortified that she had gotten lost in thought as she did. "My apologies. I was thinking." She took the drink from him, placing it down as she fished out the proper coins in payment, handing them to him.

The bartender frowned, taking the coins, casting an eye down on the photographs in front of her. His frown deepened, as he picked up the grainy photograph, squinting at it. "This lad looks a bit familiar." He commented, before placing it down on the table. "I think I've seen someone who looks a bit like him pass by before. Couldn't say for sure though. Never really see his eyes, and I always thought his hair was bleached."

Valerie blinked rapidly. "You've seen him before?"

"Or someone who looks a bit like him, at any rate. I think he must live around here." He shrugged, before going back to his duties.

Valerie quickly gulped down her drink, placing the empty cup on the counter and leaving a silver piece as a tip, tucking away her photographs and heading back out onto the streets.

* * *

"Well, do I look less like a princess now?" Sam asked playfully, as she stepped out of her room. She had let her hair down, tossing in a few small braids here and there. The outfit she had picked out was simple- a black vest that covered a violet shirt, it's sleeves poofing out slightly, trailing just a bit over her hands. She had chosen a pair of black pants, a pair of black and violet sandals completing her outfit.

"I'll say." Danny grinned, and Sam noticed that he had returned to his ghost form. "Come on, Tucker won't stop bugging me about getting the supplies."

"Allright, I'm coming." She smiled, following after him. She blinked a bit, covering her eyes as they met with the bright sunlight upon their exit from the house. There weren't any windows where they stayed, and what windows they had had been boarded over. Most likely because they didn't want anyone to see what was going on inside.

"What are we picking up, anyways?" She asked, tilting her head in slight curiosity.

"Food, mostly. And some supplies that Tucker needs to make the suppressant." He answered, looking back at her a bit. He was smiling, but Sam could still detect a trace of shame on his lips, she really did know him that well.

"I see..." She said simply, not wanting to press the issue. She didn't want to talk about it if he didn't and she knew that what he had told her about his experience before was hard enough to get out as it was. She knew there was more to the story, but she would wait until he was ready to talk about it before she tried to find out what it was.

She noticed her walking had slowed as she was thinking, and she hurried up to catch up with the white haired boy, playfully taking his arm and looping it around hers. Danny looked down, surprised at first, before he grinned as well. People going past them paused to look, no to few of them having there eyes pause momentarily over Danny. You could pick the ones out in the crowd who were used to seeing the strange boy, those were the ones whose glances didn't linger.

They quickly finished up their errands, the people at the stores they went to barely sparing a glance for the black-clad teenager. Their eyes did pause over Sam for a few moments, though none seemed to associate her with the missing Princess. She knew that word of her disappearance had gotten out by now, there were people talking about it wherever they went. It seemed, however, that no one was quite sure what had happened, her parents were tight-lipped about the nature of her disappearance.

"So... Danny..." Sam began, carefully holding her bags so that they didn't drop. She knew the ones that she held contained some of the materials to make the drug suppressant, and that was something she knew they didn't want to lose. She looked up at him. "Do you ever go out to do anything other than pick up supplies?"

The ghost hybrid frowned, looking back at her. "Not really. Tucker doesn't think it's a good idea."

"Tucker thinks everything is a bad idea." Sam joked, walking so that she was now in front of him, turning around and walking backwards. "Why don't we go for a walk tonight? I've never been able to do that without a security escort before, so I think it would be nice for a change."

Danny thought about it for awhile, his eyebrows knitting together, but eventually, he smiled. "Trying to make the most of your freedom, huh? You always were chaffing at your bonds." To be honest, always having to stay cramped up in that house was growing a bit tiring to him as well. Tucker could, admittedly, be a bit paranoid.

"Then it's settled! Tonight we-Oof!" The raven-haired girl felt herself walking into someone behind her, Danny's mouth open in a warning that was too late. Sam just barely managed to keep ahold of her bags, cursing herself silently so being so careless while carrying something so important. She turned around. "I'm sorry about that... I should have been watching where I was going." He apologized.

The older teenager that she had run into straightened herself up, not yet looking at the two. She brushed off her armor slightly, before looking up. "That's quite..." She ceased to speak then, staring at the two, almost open-mouthed. "...princess?" She choked out, her green eyes sliding over to Danny, the expression of confusion growing more prominent.

"I think that's our cue to leave..." Danny mumbled, before he grabbed Sam's hand, looping their bags over his other arm. Sam didn't have a chance to say anything before he had dragged her out of sight of the huntress.

"Danny!" Sam shouted, breaking the hold he had on his arm. "What's wrong?" She asked. She had to admit that she was a bit disturbed that the African-American female had recognized her, but she didn't see it as anything to panic of.

Danny paused, glancing around nervously. "That woman... She's a ghost hunter, one of the best. And if she's here, than it means that someone with the money to pay her bill has summoned her here."

A look of understanding crossed over her face. "Then she's probably looking for you..." She said, her friend nodding. Sam glanced over her shoulder. "We should probably get back to the house."

"Yeah..." Danny mumbled, once again taking Sam's hand and walking back with her.

* * *

Valerie watched them disappear into the crowed, too stunned to even react. That girl _had _to be the princess, but what was she doing here? Outside, and free? And that boy... she knew that he had to be the one that she was looking for, regardless of the fact that she couldn't see his eyes. The King and Queen had described him as a monster, but he hardly seemed like it... and she knew who she was.

That might not be unusual, her reputation was well known. However, not many people knew what she really looked like-when one was as famous as she was, the number of imposters and glorified images floating around tended to turn people to skepticism.

"Why do I get the feeling that there's something going on here that nobody is telling me?" She whispered, wondering.


	6. Painful Truth

**AN: **The next story to be updated! I would have done this sooner, honestly, if I hadn't been distracted by the new anime coming out this fall season. I'm loving me some Night Wizard and some Clannad. Anyways, since I doubt most of you know what the heck I'm talking about, let's skip straight to the disclaimer, shall we?

Danny Phantom was created by Butch Hartman and owned by him. I do not own it! Also, please remember to leave reviews after you're finished reading.

Also, I am currently running a contest for both artists and writers, so check it out here and let me know if you're interested in entering! Remember, you have to remove the spaces in order for the link to work.

http / bekuki . deviantart . com / journal / 15049085 /

* * *

Truth and Lies

Chapter Six: Painful Truth

Night had fallen by the time Valerie had made it back to the inn she was staying in. Currently, the ghost huntress was pacing the floor, her eyes shut tightly as she mulled over all that had happened today.

"First," she began out loud, holding up one finger. "The Mansons summon me for urgent business." She stopped her pacing, her face a few inches away from the wall. "They want me to find some ghost kid called Phantom that apparently kidnapped their daughter and killed four of their guards." She shook her head then, turning around and started pacing once more. "No, that was five guards."

"Secondly, they want me to keep my eyes out for his traitorous companion, Tucker Foley." She said, holding up another finger. "Not my area of expertise, but money is money." She stopped pacing again and held out a third finger. "Third, they want me to keep an eye out for Danny Fenton, who vanished sometime before his mother was executed for high treason."

She frowned and dug into her pockets, retrieving the photographs that were given to her again. She walked over towards her bed side table and spread them out on it, frowning as she studied them carefully. Finding nothing from them, she sat down on her bed and closed her eyes, placing her hand up against her forehead.

"Fourth, I'm certain that was Princess Samantha with Phantom in the marketplace. And I'm certain she wasn't acting much like a kidnapped princess, and Phantom wasn't acting much like a vicious killer." She sighed, flopping back on the bed and staring up at the ceiling. "So what exactly am I missing here? Something doesn't fit. Either I was wrong, and that wasn't the Princess or her captor, or the Mansons are lying to me for some reason."

Of course, the ghost huntress couldn't see any reason why the King and Queen would be lying to her. Though she had only come across them a few times, she knew them as kind and intelligent rulers, who seemed to care deeply for the health and welfare of their people. It was them, after all, who had provided almost limitless funding with anyone willing to help come up with a solution to the ghost problem.

So the only other options had to be the fact that her eyes were playing tricks on her. Which, of course, didn't explain why the couple had left in such a hurry after she had ran into them.

She let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing her hair. "Ah! I don't get it!"

She got to her feat then and grabbed her sword, buckling it back onto her sword belt. Well, if there was one thing she knew, it was that no wasn't the time to sit around and do nothing. She needed to get back out on the streets, and back hunting.

* * *

Danny hadn't wasted any time calling a meeting of the rebellion after getting home. He had told Sam to go ahead and put their supplies away, and though she didn't like being left out of whatever was going on, she was sure that Danny would fill her in later. Or at least, she would make sure that he did.

"Are you sure it was her?" Tucker asked, sitting on a chair in his small laboratory that he kept in the basement of the house.

"There's no doubt about it." Danny nodded, sitting across from him, having resumed his human form. "It was definitely Valerie Gray. And from the looks of things, she was probably hired by Sam's parents." He arched an eyebrow. "She seemed to know she was missing, after all."

"Do you think she got a good look at you?" Dora asked, sitting next to both teenage boys.

"Not a very good one, but too good for us." Danny heaved a sigh, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Things are going to get more difficult if she's around. She's a tough cookie. I should know, my mom was the one who trained her."

"Yeah, I've heard her reputation before." Tucker frowned, his chin in one hand. "Do you think we might be able to convince her to join us? I mean, since she was so close to your mother and all. She knew you from before too, right?" He asked, eyeing his old friend.

Danny nodded his head. "Yeah, I met her a few times when my mom was still teaching her the ropes." He frowned as he considered Tucker's first question, mulling over it for awhile before he finally shrugged his shoulders. "And I honestly don't know if she would join us or not. I do not that she's stubborn as hell though, so it might take a bit of effort to even get her to listen to us."

"I think that it is worth an effort." Dora spoke up. "I do not claim to know much about Miss Gray, but surely it cannot hurt to try?"

Tucker and Danny exchanged glances, communicating with each other silently as old friends are able to do. Finally, Tucker spoke up and gave a quick nod. "Dora's right. It's at least worth a shot."

Dora nodded before she stood up, giving them a brief bow. "Well then. I should take care of your dinners." She smiled at the two teenage boys and let herself hover upwards.

It wasn't until she was out of sight that Tucker finally spoke up, looking towards Danny. "How are you feeling?" He asked worriedly, moving his seat closer to his friends. "Nothing's up?"

Danny closed his eyes for a second, before he shook his head. "No. I'm allright." He opened them back up, giving his friend an apologetic look. "Sorry to always keep bothering you Tucker. I'm sure you'd prefer a more normal best friend."

Tucker laughed then, grinning widely as he stood up and gave his old friend a light sock on the head. "You idiot. Why would I ever want that when I have you?" He asked. "I couldn't ask for a better one."

Danny smiled then and grabbed Tucker's hand, grinning as he stood up and slapped his friend on the back. "Thanks, Tucker. That means a lot to me."

"Pff. It's nothing." He shook his head and unclasped his friends hand. "Now come on, I'm starving. You guys remembered to buy meat right?" He asked, eyeing him. "Her royal highness didn't decide that we should all become vegetarians, did she?"

"Pssh." Danny shook his head, crossing his arms and giving his best friend a look. "Like Sam would ever try to do that. How many times do I have to remind you that she's not a hypocrite like her parents?" He asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Eh, everyone's a hypocrite." Tucker shrugged, trying to look serious. This, of course, only lasted for about two seconds for either of the boys, before they were grinning like idiotic school children. "Now, seriously, come on, before I convert to cannibalism."

"Fine, Fine." Danny tucked his hands into his pockets, shaking his head a little as he followed his best friend upstairs, where Sam had just finished putting all of the groceries away.

"You'll have to take care of that stuff." She motioned with her head towards two other bags, filled with all sorts of strange odds and ends that Tucker had requested the two of them pick up. Sam had to admit that she was slightly curious as to what they were for, as well as how exactly the two boys had managed to get the money for all of these things. Of course, she also kind of got the feeling that would be something she would be much better off not knowing about.

"Awesome thanks, Sam!" Tucker grinned as he looked through the bags, checking to make sure that everything was there. Once he found that they were, he turned his head towards Danny. "Hey, could you carry these down to the lab?" He asked. Some of the parts were very heavy, and no normal human could carry them easily.

"I suppose I don't have a choice in the matter?" Danny arched an eyebrow, then grinned, shifting into his ghost form as he picked up the two bags and headed back down towards the stairs, leaving Sam alone with Tucker.

Tucker watched until he could no longer see Danny's white hair, before he turned back towards the Princess, who was busy plucking some eggs out of a container, making a small face as she did so. Since they had saved her life, the least she could do for them was make them so dinner, even if touching animal products disgusted her.

"So." Tucker began after a few moments. "You adjusting okay to being here?" He asked, watching her as he spoke.

Sam blinked, looking back at him as she cracked an egg into a bowl. "Yeah. I guess so." She told him, before turning back around to check the next step in the recipe.

Tucker smiled a little. "That's good. I'm glad there's someone else around that Danny can talk to." He up at the ceiling, his eyes fixing on the light fixture. "He's been having it really tough lately."

"I can imagine." Sam put the cookbook down, turning around to look at the teenaged boy. To be honest, the one she wasn't quite sure what to make of yet was Tucker Foley. Danny, even after being altered against his will, she knew and had always known. She knew what he was going to do next and she knew what kinds of things were going to come out of his mouth. Tucker, on the other hand, she barely knew and didn't have any idea what to expect of him. The fact that Danny was so close to him gave her some small comfort and she hoped that with time the two of them could become friends.

Sam frowned before she asked a question of it. "Is it really bad as it sounds?" She asked, her voice just weak enough for him to hear. She felt bad about asking this question behind Danny's back, but she wanted an honest answer. She knew that if she tried to talk to Danny about it, he would lie to her and try to say otherwise.

She did know him, after all.

Tucker glanced towards the basement before he answered her, heaving a small sigh. "It's worse than it sounds." He told her, his eyes meeting with hers. "I saw it, once. What happens when the drug takes hold of him." He shook his head. "It's not pretty. Not pretty at all."

Sam didn't say anything to that and didn't have a chance to once Danny came back upstairs, grinning at the two of them, oblivious to the conversation that had just gone on between them. "Hey Tuck! I put all of the stuff away too." He grinned, wrapping an arm around his friend, then blinked, looking towards Sam who had donned an apron before she had started to cook, not wanting to make a mess of Dora's clothing.

"Oh, Sam!" His green eyes seemed to light up even more as he went over to her, picking up the cookbook and checking out the recipe in it. "You're making fried chicken!" He grinned over at her. "Thanks!"

Looking at that grinning face, Sam found it impossible to keep her straight face on. Danny's smile was infectious and soon she found herself with one on her face too. "Of course." She said, crossing her arms over her chest. "You guys saved my life, I figured the least I could do was make you something to eat." She made a face at him then. "Even if your taste in food is disgusting."

"Oh?" Danny asked, a white eyebrow shooting up. "This coming from the girl who eats actually mud pies?" He teased her, putting down the cookbook. "But seriously Sam, thanks. This is awesome."

A faint blush colored the raven haired girl's cheeks as she looked away, burying herself back into the cookbook. "It's not a problem."

"You can cook, right?" Tucker asked then, arching an eyebrow.

"Of course I can!" Sam shot a look back at him, her blush vanishing as her expression to one of annoyance. "I'm touching meat for your sakes! You two should be grateful."

Danny laughed then. "Don't worry, we are." He elbowed Tucker in the side, shooting him a look that said he would be dead if he said anything otherwise. "Right, Tucker?"

Tucker caught the look and quickly nodded. "Oh, yeah. We are. Thanks, Sam." He laughed, before shooting Danny a look that told him he was going to have trouble finding where to inject the antidote tonight.

And Sam simply stared at the two, wondering what the hell kind of friendship they had. She heaved a sigh then and turned back towards the cookbook and the task at hand. Men were weird.

Things calmed down in the kitchen after that. Tucker helped Sam out with making dinner, as Danny excused himself for a moment. He paused to watch his two friends, both of whom he had known for forever, before he left their sight.

To tell the truth, he wasn't oblivious to the conversation they were having earlier. He had heard them talking and had heard his name brought up, and so without really knowing why, he had made himself invisible.

He couldn't deny that he was hurt by the fact that they were talking about him behind his back like that, but at the same time, he understood it. He knew that if Sam had asked him the same question, he would have tried to downplay it. He knew all she wanted was the truth and that she needed the truth if she was going to try and help him. And he knew that was her intention.

After all, he knew her.

He sighed as he looked down at his hands, eyes moving over the pale skin as if looking at blood stains that nobody else could see. Even after the blood was gone, he could still see the echoes of it, covering him. He was drenched with it and it was honestly something he didn't think he'd ever be able to rest easy with. At least, he hoped it never came to that.

He didn't want to give into the drug. He didn't want to let himself turn into a monster. He didn't want to lose everything that he had fought so hard to regain.

But...

It was hard.

Even with two daily injections of Tucker's serum, it was still hard. Even though he was now surrounded by friends and people who cared for him, instead of trapped in that awful place and treated like a monster, an abomination, it was still hard.

He could almost feel the drug in him, as if it were a separate entity, whispering the twisted, awful things that it wanted to make him do in his ears. It wanted to kill, it wanted maim, it wanted to give no mercy to anyone. He felt it every time he fought, felt it screaming at him to just give into it already. Then he wouldn't have to worry about anything anymore...

He shook his head, clenching his fists and wielding his eyes shut as he slid down against the wall, pulling his legs up to his chest. Even know, as he thought about it, he could feel it, like it was laughing at him for being so weak. It would be so easy to give into it... but... he shook his head, trying to get his mind to move away from that line of thought.

But he couldn't let that happen. He had to fight until the end, until the people that had created this twisted thing finally were left dead and buried. Until he could feel their heart beat their final beat, throbbing in his hand, their crimson blood trickling down his skin.

He snapped his eyes open then, disturbed at his own thoughts. As soon as he did, a sharp pain rang through his head and he let out a small yelp, closing his eyes involuntary, his hands moving to hold his head. The pain shot through him, a rush of the drug trying to break through the barriers that he and Tucker had so painstakingly erected, surging over them and then...

Then he was snapped back into reality, the force of a needle being thrust into his arm sending the pain back to bay. His green eyes opened as they met with the sweating face of Tucker, his friend panting as if he had just run a marathon. There was indeed a needle jabbed into Danny's arm, the liquid it contained going to work, suppressing the drug once more.

"T-tucker?" Danny stammered, looking weakly up at his friend. He briefly glimpsed a worried Sam standing behind him, before he blacked out.

"This isn't good." Tucker frowned, picking up the now human teenager in his arms. "It's too soon for a surge to be happening..." He mumbled, half to himself, as if he had almost forgotten that Sam was there.

"What happened?" Sam asked, her voice a mixture of worry and a hint of forcibly hidden panic. "Is Danny going to be okay? What's a surge?" She asked all at once, which caused Tucker's eye to twitch.

"Calm down!" He told her, heaving a sigh. "Help me get him into a bed and I'll explain everything to you."

Sam nodded, taking half of Danny's body, looping her arms through his shoulders as the two teenagers brought him to Tucker's room and laid him out on the bed. The African American male heaved a sigh as he flopped back into a chair, as Sam did likewise. They rested for a moment longer before Tucker spoke.

"A surge is what happens when the drug tries to take hold of him." Tucker explained. "At least, that's what we call it." He glanced over towards Danny, shaking his head a little. "To be honest, Sam, he used to only have to take the antidote once a day." He glanced back at her then. "His surges got more frequent about a month ago, so I changed it to giving it to him two times a day."

The meaning of his explanation was not lost on Sam. Her eyes broke away from Tucker's as they slid over towards Danny's human form, the only hint that he was alive was the rising and falling of his chest. She reached out and took her friend's hand, cupping it in her own, before she glanced back towards Tucker. "What can we do?"

Tucker shook his head, looking down at the floor. "I don't know if there's all that much we can do Sam. For another surge to happen so soon, and such a bad one..." He sighed, putting his hands on his face. "I'll have to change it to three times a day. Or try and work on a more powerful serum." He dropped his hands, leaning back further in his chair. "Either way, it doesn't look good."

Sam winced at his words, her grip on Danny's hand tightening as she heard them. She could feel her heart beat faster as they sunk into her, and she knew what Tucker wasn't saying. She knew that silently, he was telling her that there was a chance that they might lose Danny to this, and it might be sooner than either of them thought. Her stomach tightened just at the thought of this. She had just found Danny again, she didn't want to have loose him again so soon.

"Can you..." She faltered in her words at first, then shook her head, forcing aside the rising feeling of dread. "Can you make a stronger serum?"

"Sam." Tucker said bluntly then, his eyes locking with hers, knowing that she needed to understand the gravity of the situation. "He's already on the highest dosage of it that I've been able to make. I honestly don't know if it can _get_ any higher."

Sam felt the taste of dread in her mouth now, a metallic taste that made her want to gag. "Then, what can we do?" She asked again, her voice a note higher from the panic that she could no longer hide.

"I don't know." Tucker shook his head. "Unless your parents have some kind of true antidote..." He shook his head, the pain he was feeling clear in his tone and one his face. "I don't know if there's anything we can do for him."

* * *

Somewhere, a pair of lips curled into a smirk, a small chuckle escaping from them as crimson eyes narrowed in amusement. While he could not see it, he could feel the suffering of the hybrid boy, and it made him smile.

Things had taken a detour, but it looked like his plans were about to get back on track.

* * *

Valerie stood outside the small house, her eyes scanning it for signs of activity, one hand resting on her sword. She had spent the entire day trying to track down the white haired boy she had seen in the marketplace, and her sources had eventually lead her here.

"Well. Let's find out what's really going around here."


End file.
